DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM



NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

(For written reply)

QUESTION NO. 745

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO NW872E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 15 March 2010

Mr. G R Morgan (DA) to ask the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs:

(1) How many environmental impact assessments (EIAs) were outstanding (a) for each province and (b) nationally for (i) less than six months, (ii) between six and 12 months, (iii) between 12 and 18 months and (iv) longer than 18 months at 31 December 2009;

(2) what are the total number of (a) posts available and (b) vacancies in the EIA establishment in (i) each province and (ii) nationally as at the latest specified date for which information is available?

Mr G R Morgan (DA)

SECRETARY TO PARLIAMENT

HANSARD

PAPERS OFFICE

PRESS

745. THE MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ANSWERS:

(1) It is not possible for the Directorate: EIM: Capacity & Support to provide the information in the requested format, since the Department compiles quarterly reports on the administration of the Environmental Impact Assessment function, which is submitted to the relevant MINTEC and MINMEC structures. However, the National Environmental Authorization System (NEAS) would be able to do this soon, once all the NEMA EIA applications have been captured onto the system. To date, 9913 applications have been captured onto NEAS out of 13119 received.

The reports (charts & tables) below consist of statistics on both NEMA EIA applications and Human Resource Capacity. Chart 1 below presents the latest NEMA EIA statistics for the quarter that ended 31 March 2010, with the next only being due by mid July 2010. Table 1 contains statistics for EIA applications related to the 2006 NEMA EIA Regulations – 31 March 2010 and Table 2 the statistics for EIA applications related to the 1997 ECA EIA Regulations – 31 March 2010. It must however be noted that information provided by provinces are more generic and it would at least take three weeks to get the level of detail, in the format now requested, from provinces and their regional offices.

Chart 1: Status of NEMA EIA Applications: January - March 2010 (Fourth Quarter)

[pic]

Table 1 below indicates that 78% (10 293) of the total number (13 119) of EIA applications received, since July 2006 to 31 March 2010 has been finalized. The total number of pending applications (31 March 2010) presented in both Chart 1 above and Table 1 below is 2 826, which translate to 22%.

Table 1: Statistics for EIA applications related to the 2006 NEMA EIA Regulations – 31 March 2010

|Authority |Applications received |Total Pending: |Total Finalized |

| |July 06 – 31 March 10 |31 March 10 |31 March 10 |

|DEA |1002 |386 |539 |

|Eastern Cape |1240 |252 |989 |

|Free State |544 |51 |493 |

|Gauteng |3111 |56 |3055 |

|KwaZulu-Natal |2144 |761 |987 |

|Limpopo |1365 |265 |1100 |

|Mpumalanga |1088 |316 |772 |

|North West |1284 |155 |1149 |

|Northern Cape |496 |39 |267 |

|Western Cape |1615 |545 |1572 |

|TOTAL | 13119 |2826 |10293 |

Table 2: Statistics for applications related to the 1997 ECA EIA Regulations – 31 March 2010

|AUTHORITY |TOTAL: |PENDING: |PENDING: |

| |ECA APPL’S |30 June 2006 |31 March 2007 |

|ECA |NEMA |TOTAL | | | |DEA |673 |1002 |1675 |74 |34 | |Eastern Cape |6823 |1240 |8063 |45 |1 | |Free State |2665 |544 |3209 |21 |15 | |Gauteng |13001 |3111 |16112 |132 |21 | |KwaZulu-Natal |7015 |2144 |9159 |74 |34 | |Limpopo |3446 |1365 |4811 |40 |19 | |Mpumalanga |2390 |1088 |3478 |32 |16 | |North West |3355 |1284 |4639 |20 |6 | |Northern Cape |1796 |496 |2292 |12 |1 | |Western Cape |7632 |1615 |9247 |57 |8 | |TOTAL |48796 |13889 |62685 |507 |155 | |Based on the information contained in Table 3 above, it would be fair to conclude that there is still a shortage in capacity to ensure an efficient system. This is attributed to inter alia the following:

• High staff turnover and vacancy rates in provinces such as Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, due to more lucrative salaries offered by especially municipalities and state owned enterprises, but also by industry (due to change in legislation, a new trend is emerging where EIA staff is lost by authorities due to a new demand in the mining industry);

• Inadequacy of staff establishments in terms of workload;

• Working conditions (high pressure, lack of infrastructure and decision- support tools; etc.); and

• Lack of interest in advertised positions.

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[1] Environment Conservation Act (1997 EIA Regulations)

[2] National Environmental Management Act (2006 EIA Regulations)

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